Our Top Social Media Time Savers
Sure, spending time on social media is easy. But posting on social media, especially on behalf of a business, can be intimidating and time-consuming.
Usually when we tell you a stat — like how the average person spends more than two hours a day on some sort of social media — it’s to justify using those platforms for paid ads (which we can also help with).
But what about organic posting on social media? Your audience sees those efforts, too!
Once you figure out your brand’s voice and find a social media posting tool that best helps you, regularly posting relevant content can be easy.
Let’s go through our team’s favorite posting tools — ones that will give you a chance to introduce your brand to new audiences, gain insight into analytics, follow brand mentions and optimize your time.
Pricing information as of May 2024.
For Your Consideration: Our Favorite Organic Social Posting Tools
Remember with any of these tools, pick the price and plan that best works for you and your business needs. It will be worth the money to invest, but make sure you know what you need before choosing to avoid overpaying.
Hubspot
- The “all-inclusive” one
- Price: $45 – $3,700 /month
- Free versions and tools available
- Posts to:
- Youtube
Hubspot is tried and true for the 9 Clouds team. We use Hubspot’s social media posting tool for our own posts (and use it to promote blog posts, including this one).
While there are free versions of Hubspot, the recommended starter plan with all you need starts at just $45/month.
From one place, you are able to plan out posts months in advance. The dashboard is easy to navigate and you get an accurate preview of what the post will look like. Plus, Hubspot has inclusive reporting tools that show how things are performing at a high level so you can optimize your content.
Hootsuite
- Price: $99 – $739 /month
- Free option available
- Posts to:
- Youtube
This one is usually known for being helpful with Twitter (X?), but due to that platform’s shaky recent events, Hootsuite has expanded to more — including Pinterest.
Start with a 30-day free trial and find another easy-to-use dashboard and customizable reporting. This tool will also monitor keywords and let you know when certain hashtags are trending so you can take advantage of high visibility. Canva integration is also now available!
Buffer
- Most affordable
- Price: $6 – $120
- Free option also available
- Posts to:
- TikTok business accounts
Buffer is for the beginners. This tool is the most affordable and simplest to grasp — a great option for those just starting things out!
If you do pay for the premium plan, however, you can integrate Google Analytics. This makes analytics easy to view and compare side by side with your other sources of traffic.
Buffer also has a “reply” feature that lets you stay connected to the audience with quick responses. You’re able to see and reply to comments and direct messages in one place. Connect this feature with Slack (another tool our 9 Clouds team loves) to stay on top of comments easily throughout the day.
Sprout Social
- Best for analytics
- Price: $199 – $399 /month
- Free trial option
- Posts to:
- Youtube
- TikTok
Sprout Social can post to Pinterest, TikTok and YouTube, as well as the other main social platforms, so you have a bit more room to play with visuals. Add filters and text overlays to your images so your brand image stays consistent and personalized across platforms.
This platform also has customizable, in-depth analytics reporting. There are six pre-formatted reports (including a tag report, competitor report and paid performance report) that you can also customize for your business or keep and present to a team.
Constant Contact
- Includes email marketing
- Price: $12 – $80 /month
- Free trial option
- Posts to:
- Facebook/Instagram
You can use their social media tool by itself, but we like this one because of how seamlessly the social media functions work alongside the email and CRM functions that Constant Contact also has. Constant Contact is good for those just starting, as they provide resources on how to start and develop your social media strategy.
If you decide to use this tool for more than social media, definitely check out the email platform and explore how Constant Contact can help simplify your email strategy. There is also a feature that allows you to easily build landing pages you can link to and — if you pay for the premium option — you’ll be able to integrate reporting with Google Analytics.
Make the Most of Your Time
Social media is just one piece of a larger digital marketing picture, but it’s an important piece you can’t afford to ignore. Save yourself some time with a social media scheduling tool!
There are more social media platforms to post to and keep track of than a decade ago, but there are also more tools to help you. Hopefully this list will help you narrow down your choices and figure out what you need from your social media strategy.
Take the time to research what works best for your business needs and what will save you the most time.
And if you need help showing others clear return on investment (ROI)/results reports for your marketing efforts, we have help for that, too! Check out our new marketing ROI and reporting packages for more information.
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Jordan Maxfield
As a digital strategist at 9 Clouds, Jordan builds performance-focused campaigns that deliver quality results for clients throughout North America. When she's not at the office, Jordan is watching documentaries or football. Learn more about Jordan.
